Who is a BoBo? If you're in IT, you may be! "BoBo" is short for Bohemian Bourgeoisie, a term coined by David Moore. While his book is 15 years old, what he observed -- and what he didn't -- are reflections on current information technology workers, at least in the USA.

"History, as Pareto remarked, is the graveyard of aristocracies." [p.28]. After World War II, the then-president of Havard was concerned that the USA had developed a hereditary elite -- and an anti-intellectual one at that [p.26].

Thus, "campus gates were thrown open on the basis of brains rather than blood[line], and within a few short years, the university landscape was transformed... into a school for brainy achievers." [p.29] Simultaneously ending education restrictions against Jews and women, USA was becoming more educated.

"Toqueville's principal of revolutions proved true: as social success becomes more possible... the remaining hindrances seem more and more intolerable."[p.31]

At first, the USA seemed overeducated; there was no growth in salaries, claimed Richard B. Freeman in 1976.[p.37]

Fortunately for the educated, the information age hit critical mass and accelerated. Educated incomes started rising.

That's the upside of meritocracy. The downside is "today's educated class can never be secure about their own future. A career crash could be just around the corner." [p.52]

Nonetheless, Mr Moore's book is an interesting explanation of the difference between the 1950's organizational worker, and today's.

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Of course I can't see a La Boheme poster without thinking of the 1983 film "Trading Places" and Dan Ackroyd.

The image is such a poster: "Boheme-poster1" by Original uploader was DrG at en.wikipedia. Later version(s) were uploaded by Nrswanson at en.wikipedia. - Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Zscout370 using CommonsHelper.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons.